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Congreswoman Harman does NOT support Bush's
spying programMedia Matters
January 5, 2006

Summary: The New York Times selectively quoted Rep. Jane Harman to falsely
claim that she had defended President Bush's domestic spying program, leaving
out her comment that that she was "deeply concerned by reports" that the
program "in fact goes far beyond the measures to target Al Qaeda about which I
was briefed."

A January 4 New York Times article by reporter Scott Shane selectively
quoted a December 21 statement by Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) to falsely claim that
she "has defended" a National Security Agency (NSA) program authorized by
President Bush that allows for domestic eavesdropping on the telephone
conversations of people within the United States without court approval. But as
Media Matters for America previously noted (here, here, and here), while Harman
described the program -- as she said it had been conveyed to her -- as
"essential to US national security," she also said that she was "deeply
concerned by reports" that the actual program "in fact goes far beyond the
measures to target Al Qaeda about which I was briefed."

Shane wrote:

Unlike some Democrats, Ms. Harman has defended the eavesdropping, which
focuses on people in the United States who officials believe have possible
links to terror suspects overseas. In a statement on Dec. 21, she said she
believed that the program was "essential to U.S. national security and that its
disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities."

But Shane omitted the portion of Harman's statement in which she stated her
concerns that Bush's domestic spying program went well beyond what she had been
briefed on. Harman's statement (a portion of which appeared in the December 22
Los Angeles Times; the full version is not available online but is in the Nexis
database) included the following passage:

"As the Ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, I have been
briefed since 2003 on a highly classified NSA foreign collection program that
targeted Al Qaeda. I believe the program is essential to US national security
and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.

"Due to its sensitive nature, I have been barred from discussing any aspect
of this program, and until the President described certain parts of it on
Saturday, I have made no comment whatsoever.

"Like many Americans, I am deeply concerned by reports that this program in
fact goes far beyond the measures to target Al Qaeda about which I was
briefed.

[...]

"We must use all lawful tools to detect and disrupt the plans of our
enemies; signals intelligence and the work of the NSA are vital to that
mission. But in doing so, it is also vital that we protect the American
people's constitutional rights."

As Media Matters previously noted, Harman had also expressed concerns about
the surveillance program before her December 21 remarks. On December 17, Harman
and other congressional Democrats reportedly sent a letter to President Bush
expressing concern that media accounts of the program appeared to "have gone
beyond what the administration" told Congress. Harman was also one of five
House Democrats who signed a December 18 letter requesting that Speaker of the
House J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) "take steps immediately to conduct hearings on
the scope of Presidential power in the area of electronic surveillance." The
letter stated that the signatories "believe that the President must have the
best possible intelligence to protect the American people, but that
intelligence must be produced in a manner consistent with our Constitution and
our laws, and in a manner that reflects our values as a nation."